Some folks just don’t like change.
That’s one of the messages of Brian Blueskye’s profile of Frank Tysen, the local hotelier who has been leading the charge against John Wessman’s hotel/retail development on the site of the former Desert Fashion Plaza. The piece went online last week, and serves as our March print-edition cover story.
Tysen says he’s in favor of downtown redevelopment in Palm Springs—but not this kind of downtown redevelopment. He thinks the proposed Kimpton Hotel is too big, too boxy, too glassy, too L.A. He thinks a new shopping center in Palm Springs is a terrible idea. And he thinks it’s stupid to try to attract younger professionals and millennials as tourists to the Coachella Valley, because they lack the time and money that older visitors have.
I don’t agree with Frank Tysen. I think, in this case, change is good.
To my untrained eyes, the plans for the Kimpton Hotel (a hotel chain which I’ve had nothing but good experiences with on my various travels) look just fine. The height—about the same as the Hyatt next door—doesn’t bother me. A shopping center, if it has the right tenants and support, could work in a revitalized downtown Palm Springs. And up until I gave up my job (and a lot of money) to move here and start the Independent, I was a young professional who spent a lot of time and money in this city as a tourist—so I know he’s wrong there.
While I don’t agree with Tysen, I respect him—and regrettably, a lot of city officials, most notably Mayor Steve Pougnet, have shown a distinct lack of respect for the man.
That bothers me. Tysen isn’t just some loudmouth crank; he’s owned a small business and has made it work in downtown Palm Springs for 25 years. He’s had a distinguished career in architecture and urban planning—including a Guggenheim Fellowship (!)—so he knows what he’s talking about.
Yeah, Tysen may not like change, and I definitely disagree with him. But he deserves respect—and I think you’ll come to the same conclusion after reading Brian Blueskye’s profile of him.
As for some other downtown Palm Springs folks who apparently don’t like change: The Independent’s theater reviewers have seemingly been banned from receiving review tickets from the Palm Canyon Theatre.
Here’s what I know: In the not-quite-a-year that the Independent has been reviewing plays, critics Valerie-Jean Hume and Bonnie Gilgallon have covered a half-dozen Palm Canyon Theatre shows. They thought some shows were so-so; others they really liked; and only one review, arguably, was more negative than positive (of October’s The Sound of Music).
Well, something in Bonnie Gilgallon’s recent review of Les Miserables must have upset the folks at the PCT. Valerie-Jean Hume recently called to arrange to see a performance of the latest show, 9 to 5 (which opens this week)—and was told that theater managers were meeting to determine whether they’d continue offering press comps to us. The woman to whom V.J. spoke said she’d call back after the meeting.
V.J. never received a return call, so she called back the PCT and left a message, which went unreturned. I then called to find out what was going on, and left a message. As of this writing, I, too, have yet to receive a return call.
I don’t know what’s going on. I do know that in my lengthy career as an editor, I have never had a theater company ban any of my reviewers from receiving press tickets (even after reviews that could be classified as scathing)—much less issue a ban without the courtesy of an explanation.
If the theater ever gets back to me, I’ll let you know what’s up. But as of now, it seems the Palm Canyon Theatre doesn’t like the change that the Independent has brought to town—namely, honest theater reviewers who tell it like it is.